Teri Phillips — Level 1 Playtri Coach

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About Teri

My venture into endurance sports began in May of 2005 when I decided that running a marathon in honor of my 30th birthday was a good idea. At that time, I was living a sedentary lifestyle, so I joined Team In Training and went from couch to marathon in 6 months. Despite having the kind of race weekend mis-adventures that rivaled a John Hughes film, I completed the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco in October 2005 with 10 minutes to spare before the course cut-off. Although I do not recommend making such a drastic change, the lessons I learned along the way, ranging from time management to nursing injuries, are timeless.

After that first season, I became a mentor and continued serving the chapter, eventually becoming a marathon coach for Team In Training in Fort Worth.

After moving to north Dallas in 2008, I took a hiatus from coaching and started training with the Dallas Running Club. While pace leading with the DRC training program, I completed the DRC Half-Marathon, the Oklahoma City Memorial Half-Marathon, Rock N Roll Dallas Half-Marathon, and Rock N Roll San Diego Half Marathon.

As much fun as I was having running (actually more of a run-walk), I still wanted to see what more I could do; so in 2013, I bought a bike and decided to take on the challenge of completing a triathlon. Having grown-up swimming, biking, and running around the neighborhood, triathlon was a natural transition for me as I felt like I was returning to my childhood. Little did I know what challenges that I would encounter during my first race season.

The morning of my first triathlon, a thunderstorm rolled through the area 5 minutes before the start, causing a 1 hour rain delay and forcing the race director to turn our triathlon into a duathlon. While finishing the bike portion of my second triathlon in Lubbock, a dust storm (with 30mph wind gusts) and thunderstorm rolled through the area causing the race director to turn the race into an aquabike. Finally at my third race, I was able to complete an entire sprint triathlon, despite having a rain storm blow into the area after finishing the swim, creating very wet bike and run conditions.

Although that first season was riddled with challenges of the natural kind, causing my friends and team mates to swear that they would never register for the same races I did because bad weather followed me, I had the best time of my life and fell in love with the sport.

In 2014, I went on to finish Ironman 70.3 Texas, the aquabike at Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs Lake, and the Marine Corps Marathon, with an encore performance in 2015.

The greatest lessons I have learned over the years have come from the adverse conditions I encountered, and my desire is to pass that knowledge and a positive outlook on to others.